Our 4th Cats were in action last Tuesday at Hillingdon, and their prominence throughout the race paid dividends with all 3 in the top 10 places.
A report from
Darren Paice:-
Will,
Vince and I ventured out to Hillingdon for Round 2 of the Tuesday night
series. My evening started with a minor mechanical problem which meant
I had to work fairly hard in my ride from the City in order to make the
start.
I arrived 5 minutes before the off and was greeted by my
fellow TCC cohorts, and we set about devising our race tactics. It was
agreed that we would stay in the top third of the field and work as
little a possible. We would work out our finishing plan near the time.
The
race commenced in an orderly fashion, at a steady pace and was
reasonably well disciplined. It didn’t escape my notice, however, that
most shouts of “hold your line” seemed to be aimed at Will. He later
assured me that these accusations we unfounded.
Lap 3 saw the first excitement as 4 riders formed a break, which surprisingly was not chased down immediately by the following group. The gap was around 50 metres but soon closed and by lap 5 we were all together again.
Will, Vince and I found ourselves at the front of the peleton as the next break attempt was made. Vince and Will bridged the gap and I rode steadily at the front of the following group and allowed the break to form. This plan ultimately failed and we were all back together very soon, although Will and Vince, in my opinion, were working far too hard at the head of the field whilst I skulked in the middle of the pack.
The race continued without much further incident.
By this time about 30 minutes had passed and we expected the final laps to be counted down but nothing had been indicated. It then became obvious that the marshals were waiting for the E/1/2/3 race to pass by us before finishing the 4ths race.
I took up a forward position alongside Will as the fast group came by. Will and I assessed that the marshals would call our race once E/1/2/3's had been cleared. This analysis proved to be correct and crucial to the outcome of the race, as the next time round we got the bell indicating the final lap. No other lap countdown had been shown.
There was a surge in acceleration. Those at the back of the field had little chance of making up ground. I found myself near the front but at the side of the peleton and in the wind with no wheel to follow. Will, thankfully, made room for me in the group and I followed a strong wheel with Will behind and, I presume, with Vince also getting a tow.
With much encouragement from behind, I accelerated out of the bottom bend and powered, as much as I could, into the rise to the finish. A stronger rider passed me on the right and Will did the right thing and jumped onto his wheel with Vince in hot pursuit. By this stage I had given my all and was only concerned with not losing any more places as a top 10 finish looked possible.
At the finish Will McFarland had taken 3rd, Vince Leon 7th and I (Darren Paice) came in 9th.
We were delighted to get three TCC riders in the top 10.
Victory went to the Shorter Rochford team of (McCulloch, Holton, Duggleby) who posted 1.03.33, thereby setting a new course record.
Thomas
Sutherland, Steve
Home, Nigel
Atkins - 17th (1:12:39)
William McFarland,
Mark
Spindler, Dave
Peck - 38th (1:17:02)
Graeme
MacNamee, Jason
Harris, Johnathon
Brent - 52nd (1:24:01)
Emma Williams, Natalie Creswick, Jessica Taylor (riding as Ful-on-Tri) recorded 1:27:42, and subsequently collected the prize for 2nd fastest Ladies Team.
Photo gallery online at Sara Brooke Photography.
Declan Higgins produced a fine ride to finish 4th in the U16's race on Saturday.
1 Dante Carpenter Fit-For
2 Tanveer Mann Hillingdon Slipstreamers
3 David Swan Fit-For Youth
4 Declan Higgins Twickenham CC
Lisa West
reports:
The first eagerly awaited race of this years team series started with
the triumph of getting 5 of my original 8 riders to the start line with
3 unfortunately having to withdraw due to illness. I rode around the
course the other way to cheer on our riders and I was thrilled to see
Corinne
Hall riding a feisty race putting in several attacks at the
front and Jill Parker,
in her first ever road race, often
riding on the front or near the front of the bunch and looking very
smooth, calm and collected. Also great to see Ann
Marshall
organising the trailing riders into a handy bunch including our riders
Wiesia Kuczaj
and Solveig Findley
showing impressive form in their
their first ever road race. Ann
also showing sterling determination by
racing a 2nd day in a row after coming 3rd Lady vet in the
Ful-on tri
duathlon yesterday.
Unfortunately Corinne
tried to make her last break for the finish when
she had an opportunity but it was just a bit too far away and the bunch
chased her down and she got swallowed up and spat out finishing just
before Jill
who had blown before the last sprint. Corinne was
left wondering whether she should have sat in for the finish with
everyone else but on reflection she felt she wouldn't have won the
sprint and would have been left wishing she had gone for the break
anyway. Still we live to see another day, and I feel with the
strength and depth we have got in our womens team, we can only get
better - watch this space - we have 8 riders entered in the next event
at Bedford which is a 2 day stage race, 3rd and 4th May.
1.
Laura
Trott
Impsport team
A
1hr 50 mins 51 secs
2.
Jessica
Booth
Impsport team
B
same time
3.
Ruby
Miller
Candi
TV-Pinarello
same time
4. Genevieve
Whitson
Impsport team
B
same time
5. Marianne
Britten
Max Gear
RT
same time
6.
Kelly
Moore
Squadra
Donne
same time
7. Hannah
Walker
Impsport team
B
same time
8.
Helen
Gutteridge
The Mischiefcard.com same time
9.
Jess
Roberts
The Mischiefcard.com same time
10.
Katie
Fernehough Squadra
Donne
same time
11.
Kate
Calvert
Candi
TV-Pinarello
same time
12. Kirsty
Keck
Swindon
RC
same time
13.
Nikki
Wheeler
Surrey
League
same time
14. Naomi
Anderson
London
Dynamo
same time
15.
Linda
Hubbard
Impsport team
A
same time
16.
Liz
Chittenden
BCF
Eastern
same time
17. Charlotte
Colclough
The Mischiefcard.com same time
18. Bernadette
Hards
Max Gear
RT
same time
19. Katherine
Symons
BCF
Eastern
same time
20.
Penny
Rowson
The Mischiefcard.com same time
21. Hayley
Edwards
West
Midlands
same time
22. Jennifer
Hewitt
Surrey
League
same time
23. Maryka
Sennema
Surrey
League
same time
24. Tracey
Fletcher
The Mischiefcard.com same time
25. Angela
Platt
BCF
Eastern
same time
26.
Iona
Sewell
Squadra
Donne
same time
27.
Avril
Swann
Impsport team
AA at 4
seconds
28. Cathlyn
Orchard
West
Midlands
same
29. Michelle
Buck
Squadra
Donne
same
30. Charlotte
Blackman
London
Dynamo
same
31.
Corrine
Hall
Twickenham
CC
9 seconds
32.
Jill
Parker
Twickenham
CC
28 seconds
33. Claire
Leonard
Surrey
League
34. Tracey
Corbett
London Dynamo
35.
Kate
Scotter
BCF Eastern
36.
Gail
Aspden
Impsport team A
37. Andrea
Halman
Swindon RC
38.
Lisa
Scarlett
London Dynamo
39. Sorrelle Le
Cornu
Swindon RC
40.
Ann
Marshall
Twickenham CC
41. Hanneke Van der
Werf Impsport team A
42.
Solveig
Findley
Twickenham CC
43.
Wiesia
Kuczaj
Twickenham CC
Team
1. Impsport Team
B
300 points
2. Impsport Team
A
236 points
3. The
Mischiefcard.com 197 points
4. Squadra
Donne
186 points
5. Candi
TV-Pinarello
167 points
6. BCF
Eastern
128 points
7. Max Gear
RT
127 points
8. Surrey
League
124 points
9. London
Dynamo
91 points
10. Swindon
RC
71 points
11. West
Midlands
57 points
12. Twickenham
CC
41 points
A Race Report & Photos are available on the British Cycling website.
1st Joe Perrett Glendene CC /Bike
Trax 2.50.04
2nd Christopher Whorrall Manx Road
Club 2.50.21
3rd Daniel
McLay Univega.co.uk 2.50.21
4th Sam Harrison Planet
X 2.50.21
5th Tom Moses Teamwallis
CHH 2.50.21
6th Jake Hales Lotto Olympia Team
Interbike 2.50.21
Full results, including Sandy's placing, to follow..........
A Race Report, Photo Gallery 1 & Photo Gallery 2 are available on the British Cycling website.
3 laps of the tough Hughenden Valley circuit, which included the savage 22% climb of Whiteleaf Hill saw only 34 of the 60 starters complete this race.
In a close finish to a highly competitive race, Mark Spindler picked up a respectable 19th place.
Gavin Mitchell & Josh Worrall found the going a bit too tough, and Tom Sutherland , in his 5th race in 9 days, also withdrew in the latter stages.
Thanks to Dave Peck, Stuart Stow, Rob Archer, Will McFarland, Jason Harris, & Des Bennett for marshalling this event.
A deceptive chill in the air, combined with a firm northerly breeze, made this a tough encounter on the HCC114 course on Sunday morning, and many of the riders were disappointed with their performances on the day.
John
Warnock - 1:02:24 (off course)
Vaughn Moseley
- 1:04:38
Will McFarland
- 1:07:47
Stuart
Stow - 1:08:58
Jason
Harris - 1:10:41
Rob
Archer - 1:11:13
Des
Bennett - 1:21:35
Richard Lewis
- DNF (Mechanical)
